OBSI 2025 Annual Report released

As OBSI assumes expanded mandate as the ombudsman for all of Canada’s banks, consumer demand reaches new highs

TORONTO, March 13, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) released its 2025 Annual Report.

In 2025, OBSI began serving as the single external complaints body (ECB) for all of Canada’s banks, ending the era of fragmented dispute resolution for Canada’s bank consumers, which had lasted nearly two decades. This expanded mandate brought with it significant surge in consumer demand for OBSI’s services and saw overall inquiry and complaint volumes nearly double from the previous year. Banking case volumes more than doubled year over year, while investment case volumes increased modestly but reached new record highs.

In 2025, total consumer inquiries increased to over 26,000 – up nearly 60% from the record levels reached in 2024, and OBSI opened more than 6,100 investigations, an increase of 90% compared to the prior year.

The shift to the single-ECB model means that all Canadian bank customers have equal access to the same high-quality, independent dispute resolution services for unresolved complaints. It also gives all stakeholders access to consolidated complaints data for the whole banking sector for the first time in over 17 years, complementing the securities industry data that OBSI releases annually.

“2025 was a groundbreaking year for OBSI,” said Sarah Bradley, Ombudsman and CEO, OBSI. “In addition to embracing our new mandate as the sole external complaints body for federally regulated banks, we welcomed credit unions from new regions, worked with regulators towards binding authority, addressed record setting case volumes and initiated new and important IT infrastructure projects.”

Banking cases highlights

In 2025, fraud continued to be the leading issue for consumer banking complaints, representing one-third of banking cases. Fraud investigations nearly doubled year over year to 1,815 cases, up from 966 cases in 2024. Service‑related complaints increased significantly as well, also nearly doubling year over year. In addition, complaints related to chargebacks and product disclosure increased substantially during the year.

Complaint volumes related to credit cards, debit cards, e‑Transfers, personal chequing and savings accounts, and mortgages all increased significantly compared to the prior year largely reflecting overall increases in complaint volumes due to OBSI’s expanded mandate.

Investment cases highlights

Among investors, service issues were the most frequently raised concern in 2025, reflecting a continued trend from the prior year. Complaints involving instructions not followed and transfer delays increased significantly compared to 2024. Investment suitability and crypto fraud‑related complaints declined year over year but remained among the top issues raised by investors in 2025.

Common shares and mutual funds remained the leading product complaints raised with OBSI, with complaint volumes increasing modestly compared to 2024. Complaints related to crypto assets and scholarship trust plans declined year over year, while complaints involving GICs and cash equivalents increased significantly.

Three systemic issues reported

In 2025, OBSI reported three specific systemic issues to regulators.

For the banking sector, the ombudsman reported findings that some consumers were unfairly being held liable by their banks for fraudulent transactions on their credit cards and debit cards that occurred while the consumers were attempting to report frauds to the appropriate contact within the bank — circumstances where federal law, provincial law, contract law and/or a voluntary code clearly state that consumers will not be held liable.

In addition, OBSI reported increasing incidents of banks withdrawing settlement offers and goodwill offers made to consumers who escalate complaints to OBSI, and/or telling consumers that they will withdraw their offers if the complaint is escalated to OBSI.

For the investments sector, the ombudsman reported a series of cases involving a specific firm that inaccurately recorded KYC information, failed to follow documented risk tolerances, understated the risk of securities in client portfolios, and lacked internal controls to prevent inappropriate practices.

Low settlements at OBSI

OBSI works with consumers and participating firms to arrive at fair and reasonable outcomes. In 2025, more than 1,300 consumer complaints ended with monetary compensation totaling about $5.8 million.

OBSI’s recommendations are not binding on firms, meaning that firms do not have to follow them. Over many years, we have seen that this has led some firms to offer less than what OBSI recommends as fair in all the circumstances of the case and to consumers accepting these offers because they have no other options.

In 2025, four investment cases had settlements lower than OBSI’s recommended amount. These cases involved recommendations for compensation of $431,421 in total, and the final settlement amount for these four cases was $175,714 less than what we recommended in total.

In addition, five banking cases settled for amounts lower than OBSI recommended. The total recommended amount was $56,618 in these cases, and the total final settlement amounts were $26,544 less than recommended.

Canada’s Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) is a national, independent, not-for-profit organization that helps resolve and reduce disputes between consumers and financial services firms in both official languages. OBSI is responsive to consumer inquiries, conducts fair and accessible investigations of unresolved disputes, and shares its knowledge and expertise with all stakeholders and the public. If a consumer has a complaint against an OBSI participating bank or investment firm that they are not able to resolve with the bank or firm, OBSI will investigate at no cost to the consumer. Where a complaint has merit, OBSI may recommend compensation up to a maximum of $350,000.

For more information, please contact:
Mark Wright, Director, Communications and Stakeholder Relations
416-287-2877 ext.2225
publicaffairs@obsi.ca

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